'She spent money on whatever she wanted'

Former councilwoman bought Porsche, spa stays, clothes, and $170,000 of landscaping, records show

By now, it’s well-known that former El Cajon Councilwoman Jillian Hanson-Cox took money from the manufacturer that employed her and used it to benefit a community cause — the Mother Goose Parade that became star-studded under her leadership.

But at her sentencing in federal court on Monday for embezzlement, some other spending was revealed.

According to court documents, Hanson-Cox also spent the proceeds on herself — $67,000 each at Nordstrom and St. John’s Knits, $30,000 for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, $30,000 for a Porsche, $40,000 for a boat and trailer, $9,000 for a two-night stay at The Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel and spa, and $170,000 for landscaping and artificial turf for her home.

Hanson-Cox was sentenced by Judge Michael Anello on Monday to 30 months in prison — less than the 51- to 63-month sentence suggested by federal guidelines.

The judge said he was balancing the severity of her crimes with her support within the community, her swift admission of guilt and her lack of a criminal record.

“On one hand you have a person who is very active in her community and in good standing in the community ... who for some reason committed a very serious crime,” Anello said. “I do find that the conduct was an unexplainable aberration.”

Hanson-Cox, 53, pleaded guilty in September to mail fraud and filing a false tax return after admitting she stole more than $3.5 million from Century Design Inc., where she worked for 19 years, serving as the company’s controller.

More than 70 people, mostly supporters of Hanson-Cox, packed the federal courtroom on Monday. One hundred people wrote letters in support of Hanson-Cox and her good works in the community.

“You can see the support she has,” said Bob McClellan, Hanson-Cox’s colleague on the El Cajon City Council for eight years. “Every sector of the community is down here to support her.”

Mike Cully, the former president and CEO of the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce, worked alongside Hanson-Cox on a number of initiatives. Like many, Cully said he believed Hanson-Cox’s actions were a misguided attempt to make her community better.

“She just went about it the wrong way,” Cully said. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming.”

Hanson-Cox’s largesse was unwittingly funded by the Basso family, which founded and operated Century Design Inc. for decades. Bob Basso, the family patriarch, painted a different picture — a manipulative, dishonest actress who stole from a family that accepted her as a daughter.

“The woman that the people in El Cajon say they support is not the Jillian that we know,” Basso said.

Hanson-Cox spent a large amount of the money to book celebrity guests at El Cajon’s Mother Goose Parade during 2007 and 2008, when she transformed the small-town event into a Hollywood production.

Hanson-Cox was ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution to CDI and the U.S. Treasury. She will likely serve her sentence at a minimum-security prison camp in Phoenix.

According to court documents, Hanson-Cox began stealing from the company in 2004. Hanson-Cox’s attorney, Charles Sevilla, said that she stopped stealing from her employer on her own volition in October 2008, and was so broken up by her crimes that she became physically ill, requiring stomach surgery in 2009.